Review: The Musician's Daughter by Susanne Dunlap

in a sentence or so: Theresa's dad is murdered and his body is brought home in the middle of the night. the musicians who bring him to the doorstep leave her with little information and a whole lot of mystery to unravel.

Theresa loves music almost as much as she loved her father. his death is almost too much for her to bear...but she must find out what happened to him. her father had many secrets and dealings of which she had no idea, but is slowly starting to unravel. where is his violin? why wasn't he performing with the other musicians on Christmas Eve like he was supposed to?

Zoltan, the attractive musician who performed in her father's ensemble, guides Theresa to pieces of the puzzle that allow her to begin to put it all together. the first piece she discovers about her dad is that he was involved with the Gypsies. you know, unpredictable and scary foreigners who live on the edges of society? yeah, those Gypsies. and if Theresa wants to find out what happened to her father, she's going to have to find out more about them.

in the meantime, she must find a way to keep food on the table for her brother, mother, and baby-sibling-on-the-way. thankfully, she can pick up where her father left off as a copyist for her godfather who composes for the royal family...but her mom is in a hurry to get her married off. enter creepy as HECK uncle who promised a dowry to her and is shady and sketchy as you can possibly imagine. the worst part is, Theresa suspects that her uncle has something to do with her father's murder.

the allure of historical fiction carry this book. the whole 18th-century-Vienna scene is intriguing enough in itself, quite frankly. the historical details are all there, which helps the reader immerse in the cobblestone streets and houses lit by candles. unfortunately, i felt like this wasn't as polished and put together as it could have been. the overall story was fun with the Gypsies and the court intrigue and what not, and the author dabbles in some seriously creepy stuff with the uncle (which i LOVED)...but i felt like there was a lack of cohesiveness. like all the parts didn't quite balance out or something.

if you're looking for a historical fiction mystery with a slight romance angle and a couple dark twists and turns,
give this a read. i liked it, wanted to love it...but it didn't quite reach my expectations.

fave quote: "Mirela took the medallion in her hand and gazed at it as if she were trying to read the future in her palm. 'It is a curious thing,' she murmured at last, 'to touch history. Looking into the past is very much like seeing the ages to come.'" (193)

fix er up: as i mentioned, the pieces didn't quite craft a cohesive flow and polished finished that the author was capable of. the content itself was posh and eloquent, and i really really hoped the story would be too.

Lisa is a gamer, crafter, fangirl, mother, wife and unabashed nerd who is pretty ridiculous and it's best you know that up front. When she's not binge watching Netflix or crafting into the wee hours of the night, you can find her spending a lot of her time on Pinterest and
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